Chapter 9. ALGT in shining darkness.

Ash was sitting alone in the school's library. He was thinking over the day before. His power makes people see things they don't want to see. What if he was thinking too narrow. What if his power wasn't about seeing horrible things, but just seeing. Even if that's the case, how do you train this? It just didn't make sense. He skimmed through a couple books on the subject, they weren't particularly clear. All they explained is that it usually is catalyzed by emotion. Some channel semblance through rage, some through serenity, some through boredom. His so far seems to be panic, then again the books say that's how it starts. How the hell did Morgana discover her glyphs. He stretched his legs out to get comfortable. As soon as he did he felt someone collide with them.

"You dolt!" Just who he wanted to see, his morning was missing a splash of Weiss. She picked herself up from the floor and straightened her skirt. The look on her face was pretty hilarious in it's own right, half embarrassed, half angry. "You did that on purpose!"

"I assure you princess, I was merely stretching my legs." Ash replied with a shrug. She scoffed and kicked him in the leg. "Hey what the hell was that for?"

"You tripped me, you should apologize." Weiss said stomping her feet.

"Sure, when you apologize for kicking me." Ash replied, he raised his book.

"What?" She scoffed. She lowered his book and met his gaze. "I apologize to you? I don't think so."

"Right, good talk." Ash said returning to his book. She started swinging her arms around in a huff. Why didn't he think of this sooner, ignoring her is way more fun than confronting her.

"You will look me in the eyes this minute!" She stomped her feet in a huff. He shrugged and met her gaze. The staring contest lasted several minutes. There was an odd twitch in her eyes, she suddenly turned her head in panic. Her mouth started to move, as if she was whispering. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Ash asked. She kept staring towards a door.

"N-nothing." She said backing away, she spun around and hurried off.

He watched, confused, as she scampered out a side door. It took him a moment to realize, semblance. It wasn't about his fear or sorrow or anger. It was about knocking people down a few pegs, proving himself. It was about confidence, pride, humility. He needed guinea pigs. Preferably people he hates. It's a shame Weiss left.

Ash hurried through the hallways searching, he knew they'd be around here somewhere. He turned a corner and found Cardin and his group lounging by a window. He took a deep breath and stormed towards them. Cardin noticed him coming and signaled his team, they carefully reached for their weapons.

"Hey, if it isn't Gray!" Cardin shouted.

"Can't talk!" Ash said staring him straight in the eyes. Think. . Imagine the look on his face if... "Professor Ozpin!"

They turned around in surprise, Cardin smacked his nearest teammate and they hide their weapons in a not so subtle panic. They were staring at an empty hallway.

"Professor Ozpin!" Cardin shouted. He was stammering pretty badly. "How may I help you sir?"

You can help me by cleaning up Professor Port's office, the Boarbatusk had an accident, Ash thought to himself, chuckling as he did. They started panicking and wiping their foreheads.

"Yes sir, right away!" They hurried off in a panic past the non existent professor. Ash started laughing.

"That was pretty funny." Came the all too familiar voice of Professor Ozpin. Right behind him.

"Professor, didn't see you there." Ash said, spinning around with the biggest smile he could force. Ozpin studied him carefully.

"So, you were able to make them see me in that empty hallway?" Ozpin asked, he took another sip of his coffee. "That is pretty interesting, what else can you do?"

"I'm still figuring that out. I can involuntarily make people see things they don't want to see." Ash explained, Ozpin's eyes looked like they were staring into his soul. "Now I can make people see things in general, also hear things, didn't expect that."

"Now the question is, will this help you become a better hunter, or a better criminal?" Ozpin asked. Ash felt a little taken aback. Then again, he did just trick some people he hates into doing menial tasks for fun. Imagine how much money he could make with such a skill.

"Ye of little faith." Ash said with a nervous chuckle. Ozpin seemed to get the answer he wanted and strolled off without a word. Ash scratched his neck.

Ash felt a sort of pride in his new abilities. He sat in a courtyard playing around with this power to varying degrees of effect. He had Nora chase something around in circles like a dog chasing it's tail. Eventually her friend Ren came and snapped her out of it, she seemed fairly disappointed he broke the illusion. He had Cardin running laps around the grounds, it was fairly entertaining. He even had Weiss get into an argument with no one at all, passers by kept giving her odd looks. Suffice to say, he found quite a lot of enjoyment in his power, especially since few actually knew about it.

He was getting better at activating it, he needed to concentrate on the person and imagine what he wanted them to see, sometimes it wouldn't come out the way he wanted or he wouldn't be able to picture it. He couldn't figure out who Weiss was arguing with or what Nora was chasing, he did know Cardin was doing laps for an angry Professor Port. He also didn't have to get very close and he was certain it would only be a matter of time before he overcame the eye contact limitation. Or at least he hoped so. Getting eye contact long distance is pretty tricky.

"Nice day?" Gabriel asked, slouching next to him. He had his usual swagger about him. He noticed Weiss yelling at a potted plant. "Who's she yelling at?"

"Nobody." Ash shrugged. It was funnier this way anyways.

"So, did you see that girl again?" Gabriel asked. Straight to the point.

"Gwyn?" Ash asked, Gabriel mouthed her name in an almost of course kind of way. "She saved my ass again in Forever Fall."

"Beauty and a fighter?" Gabriel asked. Ash shrugged. "I have got to find that girl, I've looked everywhere."

Ash turned around, he hardly noticed Toreth was standing behind them, staring vigilantly at the belligerent Weiss. Ash looked back to see Weiss storming away in a huff. He chuckled.

"Toreth, didn't see you back there." Ash said turning back, Toreth shrugged."

"Rudd doesn't speak much." Gabriel said, patting Rudd on the shoulder. He smacked his arm away. Rudd then pointed. "Oh great it's Lancel."

"Lancel?" Ash asked. He turned back. There was a man with fairly feminine features. He had long wavy locks of chocolate brown hair, going down to his shoulders. He was wearing a shining silver breastplate over a flashy lavender shirt. His left arm was heavily armored with plating all the way down, his right was uncovered.

"He's on our team, kind of a prat." Gabriel explained. Toreth made an almost growl sound. "A year with the prick and he still hasn't pulled that stick out of his..."

"I got an idea." Ash said, he focused on Lancel, waiting for eye contact. He wasn't sure who or what Lancel was seeing but he suddenly was rolling around as if dodging invisible attacks. Gabriel laughed uproariously.

"How did you do that?" Gabriel asked, trying to hold back tears.

"I've been practicing." Ash replied. Lancel seemed to stop the minute he saw them laughing. He hurried towards them.

"What the hell was that?" Lancel asked, he had a bit of a prissy accent to his voice. The kind you expect to hear at a formal gathering. "I'm sick of your pranks Gabriel."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Gabriel answered giggling like a little girl. Toreth was vibrating as if he was silently laughing.

"I'm going to tell Arthur about this." Lancel said with a stomp of his feet. Gabriel continued to laugh.

"Tell Arthur what?" Came a stern voice behind Lancel, Gabriel stopped chuckling.

The newcomer wasn't as tall as Gabriel but stood around Lancel's height. He had short orange hair with a slight chinstrip. He had bushy orange eyebrows arching over his green eyes. He wore a breastplate of blinding gold that always seemed to catch the light, over it he wore a white coat which reached his boots. He had a massive golden sword slung loosely over his shoulder. Ash figured that this man was Arthur, he also assumed he was their team leader.

"Nothing Arthur, just more pranks." Lancel said with a shrug.

"Gabriel, do you need to harass Lancel at his every turn?" Arthur asked. "You're a second year, you're better than this."

"Sorry man." Gabriel shrugged. "Just finding a bit of fun where I can."

"Toreth, why do you follow him around?" Arthur asked. Toreth shrugged. He turned his gaze to Gabriel. "He keeps following you and you're going to rub off on him."

"Hey, what's wrong with that?" Gabriel asked.

"Do you remember the time you got him to throw flaming paper airplanes at Glynda's window?" Arthur asked. Gabriel pondered for a moment.

"I still don't see what's wrong with that." Gabriel said before breaking out into more laughs.

"Who's he?" Arthur asked, finally taking notice of Ash.

"A friend, Ash meet Arthur, Arthur meet Ash." Gabriel gave a slight bow as he introduced him.

"Well, pleasure to meet..." Arthur began, his eyes trailed off. Ash followed them to their target, walking across the courtyard was Morgana. She was clutching a few books as if they were going to fly away at any moment. Arthur suddenly hopped up into the air and raised his arms in the air triumphantly. "MORGY!" He shouted, she froze midstep and turned her head slowly. She looked from Arthur to Ash, she looked absolutely mortified. She raised her hand as if to block them from her view and kept walking like that until she was out of sight.

"I take it you two know each other?" Ash asked. He wasn't sure what to expect at this point.

"Of course I know Morgy." Arthur replied with the biggest smile. "She's my baby sister!"